Từ Đàm Temple
Từ Đàm Temple (Chùa Từ Đàm) is a Buddhist temple located on a street of the same name in the Trường An District of Huế.[1]
History
The temple was built and opened under the direction of
Over the last 150 years, the temple has been one of the main spiritual facilities of Huế and the surrounding central region of Vietnam. Over the years, the temple has been renovated and expanded many times, under the direction of Thích Thiệt Vinh, Thích Minh Hoằng and Thích Đạo Trung. Under Thích Từ Vân, two major bells were cast and installed. In 1932, a nun, Thích Diệu Không, created a monastery for nuns. For a period the Association of Buddhist Studies of central Vietnam was based at the temple, during which time the main ceremonial hall was rebuilt.
In 1951, the temple was the venue for a meeting of 51 notable Buddhist monks from across Vietnam,
Buddhist crisis and temple raids
South Vietnam's Buddhist majority had long been discontented with the rule of President
In May 1963, a law against the flying of religious flags was selectively invoked; the
Buddhists defied the ban and a protest that began with a march starting from Từ Đàm to the government broadcasting station was ended when government forces opened fire. As a result, Buddhist protests were held across the country and steadily grew in size, asking for the signing of a
Self-immolations were used as a form of protest, an on 16 August, one such occurrence occurred at Từ Đàm when an elderly nun set herself alight.[8] As the tension increased and opposition to Diệm increased, the key turning point came shortly after midnight on 21 August, when Ngô Đình Nhu's Special Forces raided and vandalised Buddhist temples across the country, rounding up thousands of monks and leaving hundreds dead.[9]
Across the town of Huế, the approach of government forces were met by the beating of Buddhist drums and cymbals to alert the populace. The townsfolk left their homes in the middle of the night in an attempt to defend the city's temples. At Từ Đàm, monks attempted to burn the coffin of a monk who had self-immolated during previous protests. Government soldiers, firing M1 rifles, overran the pagoda and confiscated the coffin. They also demolished a statue of
Later years
During 1968, the temple was heavily damaged during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War, some of which still remains unrepaired. In 1966, a bronze statue of the Gautama Buddha was cast to replace the one destroyed during the temple attacks of Diệm's regime.[1][2] The temple is still inhabited by monks, and is the provincial headquarters of the Buddhist Association.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Võ Văn Tường. "Các chùa miền Trung". Buddhism Today (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2008-02-06.
- ^ ISBN 1-74059-677-3.
- ^ a b Dommen, p. 192.
- ^ Jones, pp. 142-43.
- ^ Jacobs, pp. 247-50.
- ^ Dommen, p. 508.
- ^ Dommen, p. 511.
- ^ Winters, p. 52.
- ^ a b Jacobs, pp. 152-53
- ^ "The Crackdown". Time. 30 August 1963. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
Sources
- Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950-63. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4447-8.
- Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505286-2.